In towns and cities all over Japan farewell gatherings were being held, as "returnees" to North Korea packed their bags and boarded trains that would take them to the port of Niigata where, after various formalities including a "confirmation of free will" by the International Committee of the Red Cross, they would board Russian ships for the voyage to Cheongjin in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

For the student of contemporary Japan, these are sad times...because of the growing sense that Japan lacks a truly responsible democratic government to address these issues, and because its people deserve better.